history
Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre has been creating dance and original works of dance and movement driven theatre in Philadelphia since 1984. The company is known for its devised work with American and European based theatre artists, many of which have been hybrid forays into pop culture, political satire and the human condition. The company’s innovative approach to creating new work is fueled by the artistic vision of founder Melanie Stewart who is devoted to building communities and engaging artists in creative research through the productions and programs she produces.
1980's
The company was first incorporated after winning critical acclaim and the backing of two significant awards from the National Endowment for the Arts for her work on Boardwalk (1979), and Chased by Buildings (1981) resulting in the production of The History of Martian Architecture (1982). Her highly theatrical and visual approach to creating and producing original dance theatre was supported by the collaborative input of designer HAPhillips and composers, Michael Becker , Bill Deputy and Dan Martin. With a company of five dancers including Debbie Glennon, Mark Chatman-Royce, Renee Gomila, and Sean Gallagher the company produced two annual home seasons in Philadelphia at venues such as The Painted Bride Arts Center, The Harold Prince Theater, Mandel Theatre and Movement Theatre International. MSDT also toured regionally, produced and distributed original dance theatre; interdisciplinary works, which combined American modern dance with a variety of artistic disciplines, including musical and poetic composition, physical theatre, visual art and technical design. This era of MSDT, funded by government and leading arts foundations, produced dance/film/videos as Sign In Space (1984), The Addicts (1987), and Quarantine (1988), as well as live performance works: Heave Ho! (1982), The Birthday Party (1983), The Bride’s Tale Trilogy (1984-7), Tribe (1986), Carmen’s Garden (1987) and Museum (1989). Melanie Stewart became known as "Multi-Media Melanie" and was described in the following quote, "Saying Melanie Stewart is just a choreographer is like calling Lawrence Olivier just a stage actor" - Philadelphia Inquirer.
In 1989 Melanie Stewart earned her first of two awards as Choreographer in Residence at The American Dance Festival at Duke University in North Carolina. From ADF she invited new members to join the company including, Lorelei Bayne, Michael Wilde, Darla Stanley, Christopher Hawks, Kyle Sheldon and William Petroni. The company also ran classes and a choreographers' workspace at their studio on South Street in Philadelphia. Commissions included Dancing in the Streets at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and The Sex and Dance Festival at PS122 in New York. Other works created in this time were Ceremonies of Innocence (1990), Barriers (1990), Terra Nova, (1991), Buoy (1991) and The Time After (1991).
1990's
In 1994 Stewart traveled to Edinburgh where she met Scottish photographer, Jon Stark, INorthern Irish designer Niall Rea, theatre director Peter Clerke of Edinburgh-based Benchtours, and Scottish composer Pete Livingstone. Stewart subsequently invited this team to Philadelphia to work with her at the Winter Pillow at The University of the Arts. This began a new era of choreographic and theatrical collaboration in Europe and the United States that continues to this day. Also, Stewart made very specific choices to only pursue projects that the company could manage with bare bones administrative support. This led to the creation of smaller solo performance projects with key collaborators including pieces with Niall Rea and Mick Rossi, Anthony Pirollo, Dan Martin and Michael Biello, Paule Turner, and Warren Muller.
In the mid to late nineties the MSDT programs were devoted to the collaborations with the Scottish Theatre contingent of theatre artists from the Edinburgh-based company Benchtours staff including Director Peter Clerke, Composer Pete Livingstone and Irish writer Michael Duke. Local artists Eleanor Wilner, Mick Rossi, Jorge Cousineau, Conrad Bender, Phillip Graneto, Dan Martin and Michael Biello also collaborated with Melanie Stewart in the creation of new works performed at The Arts Bank, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, The New York Fringe Festival, BAX in Brooklyn, NY and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The result was the creation of a new dance theatre hybrid combining European Physical Theatre and American Modern Dance. Live performance works created in this era were Cocktail in the Sky (1995), Killing Charity (1996), The Messenger (1996), Claire (1996), Perfect: A Bouffon Musical (1998), Underlife: A Song-Cycle Cabaret (1999), Hard Candy (2000)
The current face of MSDT, which took shape in the late 1990's, extends the company vision to include the mentorship of emerging dance artists who share Stewart's vision and preference for collaborative, interdisciplinary performance work, in addition to the creation of new works.
2000's
From 2000 - 2003, Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre renewed its vision to include a focus on mentoring affiliate artists, production. During this time the company produced several original works by then Artistic Associate Paule Turner and his ensemble c o u r t, and works by Julia Ritter’s Performance Group as well as several independent artists through their performing venue known as Dancehouse. The works of Melanie Stewart and affiliate artists were performed in Edinburgh Scotland and in Philadelphia at Dance Boom!, The Wilma Theatre, The Arts Bank, the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, Philly Fringe, Plays and Players Theatre, Conwell Dance Theater and The Painted Bride Arts Center.
In 2003 MSDT established the nEW Festival as dance driven-artist fueled cooperative production initiative which included the previous “Dancehouse” program. . As the producing agent of the nEW Festival, MSDT was awarded Best Dance Venue in the Fringe in 2003 by The Philadelphia City Paper and in 2006 the company won runner up for Best Dance Company from Philadelphia Style Magazine.
During this time, Melanie Stewart continued her collaborative work with European based artists and completed a trilogy of work begun a decade earlier with the production of Babel in 2005 which was performed at DanceBoom! and again at the 2005 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. She also created other works including The Gathering (2003), The Girl With Bees in Her Hair (2006) and A Simple Fact of Pain (2007). Her present work on KILL ME NOW is set to premiere at the Live Arts Festival in September 2009.